Pumpkin Pancakes

Ingredients
* 2/3 cup AP flour
* 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
* 1/4 cup sugar
* 1 tsp baking powder
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 3/4 tsp cinnamon
* 1/8 tsp salt
* 2 eggs
* 1 cup milk (I used skim)
* 2/3 cup vanilla yogurt
* 2/3 cup pumpkin (I used fresh, but you can used canned)
* 2 tbsp canola oil
* 1/4 tsp vanilla

Directions
1. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients (AP flour through salt).
2. In a second bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, yogurt, pumpkin, oil and vanilla until well blended.
3. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and mix until fully combined.
4. Cook pancakes as you normally do (on a hot griddle, in a skillet, etc).
5. Serve hot, and enjoy!!!

Notes
Delicious!!! They tasted a bit like pumpkin muffins and were incredibly fluffy.  Everyone loved these, and we will definitely make them again!

How to process pumpkin

1. Wash your pumpkins.  Remove the stems, then cut in half from the top to the bottom.
2. Remove the pumpkin seeds.  Sprinkle the pumpkin flesh with kosher salt.
3. On a baking tray lined with parchment paper lay the pumpkin halves flesh side down.
4. Cook in a 400 F oven for 30-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the pumpkin glides in easily without resistance.
5. Let the pumpkin cool until you can easily handle them, approximately 1 hour.
6. Remove the skin, then process in a food processor or blender until very smooth.
7. Store the pumpkin puree in the fridge for 1 week, or in the freezer for longer.

Notes
I like to store most of my pumpkin in 2 cup batches as this is often the amount I need for a recipe, though I do store a few 1 cups as well.  Pumpkin freezes beautifully!

Edit:  I added the pictures in 2020!

November 7, 2014

This week we finally have a new keeper dinner recipe!!!  Yay!!!  Pork chops with tomatoes and onions; talk about delicious!  And to add to the fabulousness this was an incredibly easy recipe to pull together.  We will definitely be making this one again.

We also made a new side dish this week, Broccoli Cheese Bites.  Ryan and I thought these were really good, The O-man thought they were okay, Miss H tried them but didn't like them (not a surprise since she doesn't like melted cheese) and Lima Bean wouldn't even try them.  They didn't earn keeper status but thought a link to this recipe might be worth a look for some of you.  Let me know if you do try them!

I haven't even thought about the meal plan for the week ahead so I am not sure what is on the menu.  Maybe a cinnamon bread?  Wouldn't that be fantastic in the morning?  Or I used to love Corn Muffin bread that Thomas' brand made years ago.  Apparently not enough of us loved it because they stopped producing it, but I wonder if I might be able to replicate a similar bread?  Hmmm.....  I guess check in next week and see what I ended up testing out!

Happy Cooking!

New Recipe
Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Onions

Quick Pork Chops with Tomatoes and Onions

Ingredients
* 2 tsp oil
* 6 boneless pork chops
* salt and pepper to taste
* 1 small onion, sliced thin
* 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
* 1 cup beef broth
* 1 1/2 tsp dried parsley
* 1/8 tsp dried basil
* 1/8 tsp dried oregano
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions
1. In a large nonstick skillet heat the oil over medium to medium high heat.   Pat dry the pork chops and then season with salt and pepper.  In the skillet brown the pork chops on both sides.  Remove from the pan.
2. Add the onions to the now empty skillet and cook 3-5 minutes or until they are tender and beginning to caramelize.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.
3. Once boiling, add the pork chops back to the skillet. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, and then flip the pork chops and simmer for another 5 minutes.  Test for doneness (when the pork is cut into the juice should be clear).
4. Place the pork on a platter and top with the tomato and onion sauce.  Serve with mashed potatoes, rice or noodles.  Enjoy!

Notes
This was incredibly easy and delicious!  It could easily be put together even on a hectic weeknight.  The cooking time when the pork goes back into the sauce may be a bit longer or shorter depending on the thickness of your chops.  Mine were of average thickness (a little more than 1/2 inch each), so this timing described in the directions worked well for our pork chops.  The boys asked for mashed potatoes so that was our side dish (along with both roasted and steamed broccoli - so everyone would eat their veggies!).  We will definitely make these again.

October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!!!  Hope you are ready to have some fun tonight!

This week was another tough week in the test kitchen.  First up - a new oatmeal muffin recipe.  Yikes!  I am not sure exactly what went wrong, but the muffins were terrible.  The boys and I tried one when they came out of the oven (it was close to dinner so we shared one), and none of us could even finish our piece.  What a bummer.

We also tried a new banana bread, but it wasn't banana-y enough.  After we made those I still had enough bananas that were ready for one of two fates: be baked into something or be tossed into the freezer for future use in a smoothie. I have been wanting to make a new banana snack cake recipe but since it is Halloween I opted to freeze those bananas.  Who needs a cake in the house on October 31?

I am planning on making a new zucchini side dish this week, and there is a zucchini cake one of my sisters made that looked amazing (again, I know, who needs cake this time of year?  But it looks so good!).  Hopefully there will be success in the kitchen this first week of November!

Happy Halloween, and Happy Cooking!

October 24, 2014

Early in the week we tried 2 new slow cooker recipes.  The ingredient lists looked fabulous, and making dessert in the crock pot was very intriguing.  Because it was very chilly on Saturday it seemed the perfect time to try a new beef stew as well an apple pudding cake recipe.  While both were good, they just weren't great.  I have had so many better apple desserts (pie, crumble, crisp, bars) so this didn't earn keeper status.  And the beef stew was fine, but definitely not better than our dutch oven beef stew that I make in the oven.

I thought that was going to be it for new recipes, but we have a church function tonight and I made some s'mores fudge to bring.  Wow!!! This was easy, and delicious, and just perfect for a bake sale or for giving as gifts to friends and teachers at the holidays.  Perhaps you should bookmark or pin the recipe for the upcoming holiday season.

One last thing from this week...we had roasted split chicken breasts one night and then made homemade chicken soup the next day.  It was probably one of my best batches ever, and I think that was in due in large part to my whim of tossing in some homemade poultry seasoning into the stock!  I am definitely going to do that again  the next time I make soup!!

Let's see what next week brings...and Happy Halloween in advance!!!

Happy Cooking!

New Recipe
S'mores fudge

S'mores Fudge

Ingredients
* 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
* 1/4 cup butter
* 2 cups chocolate chips (360g)
* 3 to 4 whole graham cracker sheets, broken into pieced
* 2 cups mini marshmallows (120g or so)

Directions
1. Line a 11 x 7 (or even 9 x13) pan with aluminum foil or wax paper.  Set aside.
2.Melt the chocolate chips, butter and milk in a pan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly.
3.  Off the heat, add in half of the marshmallows.  Let the mixture sit for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add in the remaining marshmallows and graham crackers.  Spread into the prepared pan.
5. Let the fudge set up and cool in the refrigerator for 4 hours and then cut into pieces.  Store in the fridge.

Notes
So easy - I can definitely envision making this fudge to give away during the holiday season.  And you can make it thick by putting it in an 8 x 8 pan, or thin if you put it in a 9 x 13 pan.  My 11 x 7 pan seemed to be the perfect size - the fudge wasn't too thick or too thin.  This fudge is scrumptious no matter what size pan you put it in!!!  Enjoy!